White Roses
by bethanyanne
Summary: A killer is stalking New York city residents, leaving only a single white rose on the corpse. Spoilers for Blind spot, starts out pre siren call. I am new to this, so please be gentle. Reviews, and critisms are welcome.
1. Chapter 1

She didn't notice when she first walked in, anything ut the erie silence that sent a shiver down her spine. Pulling her piece out, she spun around the room, expecting her to be there again. Instead sitting on the mantle right over the fire place was a single white rose.

Ten Hours Earlier

"Last session." She said, he looked relieved, as he handed over the keys to the truck.

"We uh we just got a call."

And they were off. Driving silently to the crime scene, in a down town apartment building. It was a Senator's daughter.

She was lying face up in bed, her throat slit from ear to ear. Like a bloody smile, and clutched in her hands across her chest was a single long stem white rose.

"Her name was Dana Whitmore."

"Senator Whitmore's daughter?" Eames asked.

"Yes."

"What's with the rose?"

He leaned in close to the woman's face, eyeing the blood.

"Picking up on any interesting scents?" The ME asked.

"Nothing yet."

"Well I can tell you one thing, it wasn't natural causes." She said.

Eames walked around the quiet apartment, trying to get a sense of the killer, anything to help in the investigation. Ever sense meeting Jo, and the events that had transpired she seemed to be off her game, and that bothered her more then she was willing to let on to anyone.

"We should go talk to the Senator." Goren said.

"Of course." Eames followed him out of the apartment and back down the street to their car.

"You okay?" He asked her when they were alone

"Yeah." She lied.

It started right after the 'incident' she was having nightmares, and calling him in the middle of the night, he never asked in front of the captain or others if she was okay. He never told others about the nightmares that she was having, and he never told her about the night mares he had.

They spent the day interviewing suspects and grabbed a quick bite on their way back to the office. It was just like that last night before everything went wrong. About two in the morning to be exact and she got up to leave. He thought about offering to take her home but he didn't want to seem like he was coddling her.

When she walked in the erie sense of dread over took her and she pulled her service piece out. It wasn't until she saw the rose though that all the color drained from her face, and she fled her home back to the sanctuary of the car, her heart pounding, she dialed his number.

Goren was still at 1PP when his cell rang.

"He was here." She said, breathless.

"Where are you?" He asked. Hurry to the elevator.

"At my apartment, Goren hurry up and get here. I am locked in my car."

"Okay, I am on my way."

She hung up and immediately called the captain at home, Goren would call CSU.

"Captain, the killer we are looking for, he was in my house."

She knew she had to sound crazy even paranoid, dread overcame her, what if the captain didn't believe her.

"Are you still there?" He asked, concern evident in his voice.

"I am outside, Goren's on his way over."

"I'll call CSU and head over there, listen if anyone approaches your car I want you to leave and go straight back to 1PP."

He wasn't taking any chances this time, he saw what almost loosing her did to Goren the first time around, there was no need for any of them to go through that again.

Goren was the first to arrive at Eames, he pulled his service weapon as he approached her car. When she saw it was him she started to get out of the vehical.

"Stay in the car Eames, I am going to go check your house."

"No, I will be safer with you."

"Eames," He tried.

"Either we both stay out here and wait for Ross and CSU or we both go into the house together." She was firm about it, so he waited out by her car for the patrol cars to pull up, along with their captain and CSU.

Logan and Wheeler pulled up ten minutes after CSU and the Captain had gone into the house. Goren was told to stay outside with Eames for her protection.

"Lots of fun tonight." Logan said walking up to the other detective. Goren glared at him and Eames didn't say a word.

"Alright, this is what it looks like." The Captain said reappearing. "There were no signs of force entry, so whomever this is, had away into your home. All he left was the rose, CSU wants to go over the place with more of a fine tooth comb in the morning, so for tonight I am afraid you will have to be put up in a motel. As for a change of clothing, they don't want you to disturb the scene so I am afraid you will have to go with out."

"Captain, I would rather not stay in a motel." Eames said, knowing she wouldn't sleep anyway.

"Well unless you have a better suggestion."

"She can stay with me." Goren said, surprised by his own voice.

"I don't think that would look appropriate." Ross said.

"Look I don't give a damn whether or not it looks appropriate. I am not going to risk loosing her again, she stays at my place where I know she will be safe. If I have to turn over my badge and gun right now."

"Goren." Eames said, trying to calm him down.

"That won't be necessary detective. All I was going to say is that it won't look appropriate, so if any of you four," eyeing Logan and Wheeler, "get it into your heads to tell IAB then I will have to tell them that I was not about to put two detectives into two separate Hotel rooms for one night, just so that the one would have a detail nearby."

"Understood," they chorused.

"Now as far as a change of clothing, and toiletries sir, I have some in my car."

"Alright, well you two are officially off this case, Logan Wheeler I want you to go to 1PP get their notes and start looking into this, Goren take Eames to your place and don't let anyone near her."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, everyone has been so incredibly nice. I hope you all like this next chapter, and I think chapter three might be from my killers POV, as always, I own none of this, I am just enjoying letting my mind play in Dick Wolfs world for a while.

Chapter 2

'Take Eames to your place and don't let anyone near her'

Those where his exact words, and somehow she felt like it was more of a proposition. She knew that there was no way he meant it in any other way then a captain looking after his detectives. She also knew that there was no way that anything would happen, she was just in Goren's protective custody.

That was another thing that pissed her off she didn't need him to protect her. She could take care of herself, she had been doing it ever since her husband died, with out so much as a shoulder to cry on, Deakins got that, how come Ross couldn't just understand.

"Eames, Eames… Alex." She looked over at her partner. He never addressed her by her first name. "Are you alright."

"I don't need you to take care of my Bobby." She said in disgust.

"Alright. Well, that being said would you rather I take you to a motel room."

Another proposition. She needed to clear her head.

_Things got really fuzzy right after the abduction. She left the hospital, feeling alright, drove home and sat in her drive way for six hours, not able to get out of the car and go inside. Goren had offered to take her home, but she insisted on going alone. Then when she got there she couldn't bring herself to get out of the damn car. Let alone walk through the door. He had assured her that Logan chipped in with some new detective, Wheeler to help him clean up. That there was no way when she returned that the apartment would look like anything had happened. They even got Polly, or at least a replacement Polly. Still the fear that racked her body was too much, and so after six hours sitting out front she finally started the car and drove off. Half expecting to end up checking into a motel, half expecting to end up at her sisters or her parents. She was shocked when she pulled into the parking spot next to Bobby's at his apartment. Until that moment everything was a blur, she had no idea that's where she was driving to._

_He answered the door, before she had a chance to knock on it. He didn't say a word to her when she walked in, just went into the other room and came back out carrying a blanket and two pillows, he made out the couch into a bed then quietly walked back into the kitchen._

_"Goren." She said, "Bobby, I don't want to stay the night."_

_He didn't respond just went to work in the kitchen. Whatever he did smelled wonderful. So she just sat down on the edge of the 'bed' couch and waited for her partner to reappear. He did only a few minutes later._

_"I set the table in the kitchen for us to eat." He said, like he had been expecting her the whole time. It was eerie how he knew these things._

That was six weeks ago, right after she got out of the hospital. The first night he slept on the couch, trying to be cavalier about it, and let her have the comforts of the bed. She slept, not well, waking every couple of hours from the nightmares.

The next night, she offered to take the couch, knowing neither of them were getting any sleep, him because his big frame was to cramped on the small sofa, and her because of the nightmares. Again he tried to be cavalier about it. However she won out, and he went to sleep in his own bed and she went to sleep on the couch. When the nightmares began, she got up and went into the bedroom. Not wanting to wake him, she laid down beside him and slept through the first night since the abduction happened.

That lasted only for about three weeks, before Alex finally insisted on going back to her own home. Sleeping in her own bed, the first couple nights he showed up and slept with her, or on the couch. Then she was on her own. Now things were back to the way they were, and here she was back on his couch.

"Eames, I… I was just wondering, do you think that who ever left that rose in your apartment knew that you had stayed with me for the last couple of weeks."

"I don't think so. Why?"

"I don't know."

He left her standing in the middle of his living room and silently went into the bedroom. She was used to the layout of his apartment now so she went to the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea, then curled up with her feet under her on the couch and turned the tv on the volume was low enough she didn't have to mute it. After about ten minutes when he didn't return from the bedroom she assumed he had gone ahead and went to sleep so she rose from her spot on the couch, double checked the locks on his door, and turned off the lights. Then returned to her tea and the low hum of the tv.

Bobby's cell phone ringing startled her awake, the screen on the tv had gone from infomercials, to that static of being off the air, she turned it off, then lifted her partners phone to see who was calling. Logan, figures, Eames thought.

"Eames."

"Oh good, I didn't think you guys were still up all the lights were off." Logan said. Duh, they were asleep. She noticed for the first time that he had covered her with his comforter, and placed one of his pillows under her head. Apparently he came back out of the bedroom after she had passed out on the couch.

"What do you need Logan?" Eames asked.

"Well Wheeler and I are downstairs, I have been buzzing for about ten minutes, could you please let me in."

"Eames is that my phone?" Goren asked, reappearing, his hair dishevled from the bedroom.

"Yeah I'll buzz you in." She said into the phone ignoring her partner.

He looked cute, his hair standing on end, and no shirt on. She shivered then pushed the thoughts aside, time to remain neutral, another neurotic killer was after her, this was getting old. Real fast. And suddenly despite Bobby, or maybe because of him, going back to VICE was starting to look really good.

"Logan and Wheeler are here, they want to talk to us."

"Shit, it's four in the morning." Goren said.

"Maybe they got a break."

As she buzzed in the two detectives Goren sulked back to his room and pulled on a flannel shirt. They better have caught a break, he didn't think he could handle much more of this.


	3. Chapter 3

A.N. So this is a little off beat, and please bear with me, I assure you that I am going somewhere with this idea, as crazy as it may seem. I do appreciate those of you who read this, and those who take out time to comment, and I hope that I am living up a little bit to your expectations, thank you.

Chapter 3

"What do you want Logan." Goren asked when the two detectives entered his home.

"Your notes on the Whitmore murder, they weren't on your desk."

"They are here; I had them in the car with me."

"And you couldn't think to give them too us earlier?" Logan asked, slightly disgusted.

"It wasn't exactly a top priority at the time."

He went and got the notes, annoyed that the two detectives would wake him and Eames at this god-forsaken hour.

Handing them over, Goren shifted from one foot to the other waiting on the two other detectives to leave so he could go back to sleep.

"Um, there is something else. I ran the mo from the Whitmore scene through VICAP and it came back with three other hits in the area. It looks like maybe we are looking for another serial killer." Wheeler said.

"Detective Wheeler, you and Detective Logan are looking for a serial killer. I am not on the case any more." Goren said.

"Yes, we are aware of that, we just thought you would appreciate being kept in the loop." Logan said, annoyed at Goren's attitude.

"Sorry, thank you." Goren said realizing that he had pushed to far.

"Who are the other victims?" Eames asked.

"Laurie Swift age 39, Kara Williamson age 35, and Teresa Nichols age 17, and before you ask, none of them are as famous as Ms. Whitmore. I think that chances are that this guy is after you Goren. He knew that Major case wouldn't get these killings until it was someone worth our attention so to speak, and so he killed the daughter of senator Whitmore, therefore making the case prominent enough for the eminent Detective Goren. He probably wasn't counting on you being taken off the case."

"No, he wouldn't have expected that. Deakins wouldn't have taken me off the case, and therefore not knowing that Ross and Deakins vary so much he would have assumed that I would still be on the case. Have you all figured out about the flowers?"

"No, we haven't."

Goren nodded; he noticed that he had been pacing back and forth in his apartment. The two other detectives had grown quiet.

"Detective Goren, we are going to go. If you think of anything please call us." Detective Wheeler said, making Goren feel as though he was the one under the micro-scope.

This was more complicated then it was supposed to be. Goren wasn't supposed to taken off the case. That threw a wrench in the plan. Whitmore was supposed to die, in order to get Goren's attention. The game was afoot, but Sherlock wasn't playing.

Laurie was a sweet girl, her murder wasn't hard. No single woman in New York City walked the streets with out watching over their shoulders. But Laurie, now Laurie felt safe with her neighbor, which is what made it so simple. It was a good thing that Goren didn't get the case eight weeks earlier. It was pure luck that he was too busy with the Gage case to pay much attention when Laurie's body turned up, otherwise he would have been able to figure out right away, and then there wouldn't be any fun.

The killer sat back on the couch kicking back with her feet up and relived the other three murders. Goren always wanted her to be an open serial killer she knew that from the first time they met. That is why he tried so hard to pin so many murders on her, ah maybe to begin with Laurie was just annoying and therefore had to go, and maybe Kara just pissed her off, and well Teresa reminded her way too much of Eames… ah yes Eames, that was the crown jewel. To destroy Goren, to make him into a complete and utter mess, would be to take her away.

But since she couldn't do that she had to settle for the next best thing.

Early the next morning, Goren woke up before Eames and went for a run. When he got back she was up.

"I need to go see a friend." Goren said when he came back in.

"Oh goody, you know how much I love meeting your friends."

Together they left and drove across town to a small flower shop. A friend of Goren's was a florist. Eames wondered silently.

"Um, uh Mike this is Detective Eames, Eames this is an old friend of mine Michaela Henderson."

Mike was a short red headed woman that reminded Eames slightly of Detective Wheeler.

"What can I do for you Bobby?" Mike said.

"What kind of flower is this?" He asked handing her a picture of the flower taken at the Whitmore crime scene."

"Ah, that is an Auckland Metro Rose, or a Precious Michelle. They bud out light pink, two or three buds to branch, but they bloom white." Mike said, not really looking at the picture. "There are only nineteen flower shops in the area that sell this particular kind of rose. Of those fifteen haven't had any sales on this flower for the last six weeks. The other four have shown moderate sales."

Goren wasn't the least bit surprised by this information; he was surprised by what came next.

"I told the other detectives all this about an hour ago Bobby. What's going on?"

"This was the same kind of flower that was left in Eames apartment."

"So who ever is placing these flowers, they are after you?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, something like that."

"The woman, who bought the flowers from me, had a very strong very fake English accent. She was definitely trying to sound like she was from Manchester." Mike said.

"If she was faking an English accent, where do you think she was from?"

"The way she held her accent in, I would place her from Australia, although this particular woman spent a great deal of time, probably close to a dozen years in Thailand." Mike said.

"There is no way you got that from one conversation." Eames said.

"Well actually before I opened a flower shop, I worked for the US Army as a linguistics' expert for fifteen years, and as an FBI agent for six. So yeah, I could get that from a short conversation."

"Wallace." Goren said. Knowing immediately that was who they had to be dealing with. Obviously. But why kill all these innocent women. Why after all these years go after Eames. Until this point they were just pawns, in an annoying chess game that Nicole Wallace liked to play. But now, she had gone into Eames home, this soon after Gage, it didn't make sense.

"We should go talk to Captain Ross." Eames said.

"Bobby. I didn't tell the other detectives about the woman buying flowers from me. If you go to your Captain, he is going to want to know why they don't know it."

"Don't worry Mike. I'll handle it." Goren said calmly.

Eames and Goren left and headed to 1PP.

"Why didn't she tell them about it?"

"Because Mike probably knew who Nicole was when ever she bought the flowers originally, but she didn't put it all together till Logan and Wheeler started asking questions."

"Why would she know who Nicole Wallace is?"

"Because I told her about Wallace."

Eames was slightly miffed by this. Her partner was confiding in a civilian, someone she didn't even know existed, about things that he shouldn't be discussing with a civilian, even if she used to be a former FBI agent, and one of his Army buddies. The rest of their morning was spent in silence, even after they got to 1PP. She didn't know what to say to him, or rather how to speak to him with out getting angry. Eames really felt wounded over this.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"You can't be serious." Ross said.

"I am dead serious sir, this is definitely Wallace." Goren said.

"First of all detective, you are no longer assigned to this case and for very good reason, and secondly, I have reviewed the file you have obtained from on Nicole Wallace, and she is many things I am sure, but she doesn't match the profile we are looking at for these killings. Now, Detective Goren, I understand you have been under a lot of stress lately, and so I suggest that perhaps you go ahead and take some time off, before it becomes mandatory that I send you on a leave of absence."

That's when he looked around for Eames to support him, but she wasn't in the office. She wasn't even in the squad room, she hadn't been there the whole time, not for six weeks. Not since that fateful night when he sat watching surveillance tapes of that god-damned video store, the whole while his partner was being tortured and killed. She never made it out of that dungeon, and when Goren finally broke Jo Gage, and she told him about killing his partner and his best friend, he simply didn't listen, and when Alex's father picked out white roses to cover her casket at the funeral. Goren just filed that away in his mind, and refused to accept that she was gone.

She wasn't there when he went to see Mike at the flowershop, and she never spent a single night at his home. She was gone, and Goren couldn't move on. Maybe part of him felt like Nicole was the one involved in these murders because who else would place white roses on their victims, the same roses that were at her funeral. Who else would call Goren out in the middle of the night to Eames old apartment, empty and yet still had her scent lingering in the air. Who else could go so far just to see him slip a little further into the abyss.

Chapter 5

"Okay, so the flower shop owner said that sales increase approximately six weeks ago when two people purchased the exact same amount of flowers from her, we know one of them was John Eames, and the other was a white female, mid to late thirties, blondish brown hair." Logan said.

"Don't you find it the least bit odd that someone made nearly the same order of flowers at the same flowershop around the same time as Detective Eames funeral. And then who ever this is, more then likely our killer placed one of these flowers in Detective Eames old apartment." Wheeler said.

"Yes, I do find it disturbing. Not simply because the situation has Goren in knots either. There is something that the owner of that shop didn't tell us. I wouldn't be surprised if Goren knows though."

"Do you think we should talk to him about it?" Wheeler asked.

"Detective, Goren and I do not have the most amibical relationship. I am sure though if this had anything to do with Jo Gage, or Detective Eames is murder, Detective Goren would be all over it." Logan said.

"They were pretty close." Wheeler asked.

"Goren had kind of a bad reputation before he was partnered with Detective Eames. It seems like she was the only one who could and would work with him. Everyone else is either afraid of him, or thinks he is just too crazy to be an officer of the law."

"And what about you Detective Logan?"

"I think that what they had was something you don't find, in marriages or in partnerships anymore. They had a remarkable trust and underlying friendship. They were probably soulmates."

"So you think they were involved?" Wheeler asked concerned.

"No so much on a sexual level, but yeah they were definitely involved."

"He doesn't seem to be doing very good."

"Have you ever been in love?" Logan asked.

"No."

"Okay, well all I can say is that man over there just lost his best friend, his better half, and pretty much his only reason for existing on this planet, and what is worse is she would still be alive and well if someone he already knew for many many years just had not snapped. Goren brought Jo Gage into Detective Eames life, and no matter how un-rational it is that he feel responsible he will and does."

"So I guess the only other thing to wonder is whether or not he will be okay?"

"No, the only other thing to wonder is who would wait six weeks, kill three women along the way and then leave a white rose on Detective Eames mantel and call Detective Goren about it." Logan answered

"Goren thinks it's this woman Nicole Wallace." Ross said approaching his two detectives and interrupting their long debate on Goren's mental stability.

"I have to admit that makes the most sense." Logan said. "As far back as I remember this woman Nicole Wallace has been a thorn in his side, she seems to latch herself on too cases in ways to make Detective Goren annoyed more then anything else. If she is as half as smart at he thinks she is then she probably followed the Gage case, and when news broke that Detective Eames was the fourth and final victim Nicole would have been upset, but she would have also seen it as a way to get to Goren on a different level."

"Why do you assume that Nicole would have been upset by Detective Eames murder?" Ross asked confused.

"Not upset that Detective Eames was murdered, but upset that she couldn't use her as a bargaining chip. She would have seen it though also as a way to get to Goren I am sure. Like I said this makes a lot of sense."

"Find her, bring her in and lean on her hard… I want to know if this woman is playing with one of my Detectives, and if she is find some reason something to stick her with, she is going to have to pay for what she has done." Ross said.

Logan and Wheeler nodded and then rose from their seats and headed out the door. Logan noticed as they were leaving the squadroom that Goren had straightened up his desk and had left, presumably for the day.


	5. Chapter 5

A.N. Okay, so if you are still reading, I promise this is going to get better, you will find out who placed the rose in Eames apartment, and why at the begining everyone thought she was still talking and alive and all that jazz, I just couldn't help myself... read on, and feel free to review and call me names if you like :)

"God-damnit Eames, why did you have to leave with out me that night, why didn't you just shake me and say hey stupid there is a serial killer loose in this city, please take me home and make sure that they are not in my apartment. I can't do this with out you, I can't be partnered with anyone else. Why the hell did you leave me." Goren shouted at the stone that read her name in plain block letters, and two dates, her birthdate and the date that she died, the ME said within eight hours of her disappearance.

Goren stood in the cemetery looking at her marker, feeling mad at himself of yelling at her, feeling mad at himself for not insisting on taking her home. Feeling mad at himself for not simply telling her all those millions of times that opportunity had presented itself how much he loved her, how she was his other half, his better half. How when he felt himself slipping away she could always pull him right back.

"It's a shame you know." Nicole said her thick austrailian accent grating on his last nerve.

"What do you want Nicole."

"To tell you I didn't kill those women, or place a flower on your dead partner's mantel. I am many things Bobby, but deranged isn't one of them."

"Hmph"

"So you don't believe me." Nicole walked up and adjusted the drooping flowers that marked Detective Eames grave. "This wouldn't be the first time that I told you the truth and you chose not to believe me."

"You are talking about that little girl you kidnapped and took to Arizona?"

"To live with her Aunt, where she would be safe, where her father couldn't lather her down with estrogen and wait for her to die so he could cash in on her trust."

"What are you getting out of this Nicole."

"Nothing. But I know you would think it was me so I am simply here to tell you that I had nothing to do with this one. And to offer up my condolences for your loss, I know how much you loved her Bobby."

That angered him more then anything else she could have said. How dare she presume to know how Goren felt about his partner even if she was correct in her presumption.


	6. Chapter 6

Okay, for all those reading, there will be a short interruption while I recover from what ever it is that is making deathly ill, I hope to post a follow up and perhaps edit the chapters I have already posted so to make it clearer as to what has happened sometime towards the end of next week, perhaps closer to the first of november, thank you all for your reviews and I hope you continue to read. Bethany-Anne


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